


Last Day, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-28
Updated: 2000-08-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 01:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 19,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: It is Roni and Zoey's last day of the Spring semester of college,but what will happen to Roni before she gets to go home?





	1. Last Day, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

The Last Day by AJ

Disclaimers: A girl can dream...can't she?

Notes: This is my next Roni story. Not Abbey and the cancer thing. It is a cliffhanger, so if you are like Dallas and are about to have a heart attack because of me, then don't read.

Spoilers: It is Roni and Zoey's last day of the Spring semester of college, but what will happen to Roni before she gets to go home?

Roni Bartlet walked into her dorm room, after returning from lunch, with her roommate, a short 5'3" Mexican girl named Faith. The room looked very pale, very dim. For it was the last day of classes, or rather exams. Both sides of the room were totally pale, except for a few big items that were to be removed after their last exams. After plopping down on her bare bed, Roni turned her attention to her roomie, and said, "I can't believe it's already over."

"Yeah, I know, it came way too fast. But I sure won't be missing the work part of college."

"That makes two of us. So what do you have planned for your summer?" Roni curiously asked.

"Not much. I was planning on working and stuff. Nothing exciting. What about you? What do you have planned? Are you spending any down time with Brad?" asked Faith, pumping Roni for information.

"Brad and I have plans, yes, but for the most part, I think I'll be working too."

"You know, I never did get that."

"Get what?" asked a confused Roni.

"Why you work. I mean, it's not like you need the money or anything, you're the President's daughter after all."

"No, I guess I don't really need the money. Nor do I keep much of it. Most of my paychecks go out to different programs, ones for little kids who are abused."

"Really? I didn't know that. That's pretty cool," said Faith, taking a real interest into where the conversation was headed.

"Hey, what time is it?" asked Roni with a touch of panic in her voice.

"I don't know, like 12:45 p.m. Why?"

"I gotta go. I have my last exam at 1:00 p.m. Later!" Roni screamed as she grabbed her bag and ran out of the door.

*************************************************

"Is that it?" the President asked as he stood up from the chair he had been sitting in during the senior staff meeting.

"Yes, sir," echoed all of the senior staff members.

"Good. Now, as you guys are probably aware, today is the last day of classes at Georgetown. A university that just so happens to educate two of my daughters. And what with the First Lady a few thousand miles away, I was thinking that this would be a fun time to have another little get together. I've already sent Charlie out to get all the ingredients for the chili. I've planned it for tonight, beginning at 6:30 p.m. And I have taken the liberty of checking with all of your secretaries to make sure you had nothing on your schedules to interfere with this, so I'm expecting all of you to show up. And before you respond, just remember what that seal in the carpet stands for." the President said gleaming with a devilish grin.

Much to his liking, all of his staff enthusiastically agreed to show up at the meeting. Even if their hearts weren't in it, they knew there was no way they could get out of it. But once out of the Oval Office, all they could do was complain. One of few things that helped ease all of the staffers' pain, was the hope for a repeat episode of the last chili night that the President had. It seems the First Lady had returned early from her trip, just because. And upon doing so, she walked in on the chili party, over hearing Jed speaking with Josh and Sam.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Josh, the First Lady isn't here," While Jed was speaking, he looked at his two staffers who were frantically pointing behind the President, and attempting to get him to stop speaking. "She doesn't come back for another two days, so I can have as much chili as I want." Once he finally realized what Sam and Josh were doing, he said, "She's standing right behind me isn't she?"

"Yes, sir." Both Josh and Sam said as they disappeared.

"Hi honey. What are you doing back so early?" Jed said hopeful that his wife didn't hear what he had said.

"Don't hi honey me. What do you think you're doing eating chili?" Abbey began to tear into him.

"I…uh…" Jed tried to explain, but Abbey continued.

"Do you do this every time I go away?" After a little bit of silence, she persisted, "Well, do you?!"

"Not every time."

"So you've done this before?" Abbey said as she took Jed's bowl of chili away from him.

*************************************************

At a very fast pace, Roni strolled through the interlocking pathways that led to her last class, with the Secret Service struggling to keep up. As she walked, she came across many people that she knew, but didn't have any time to say anything more than "Hey, what's up?" With just minutes to spare, Roni finally made it to her destination. As she took her normal seat in the very large lecture hall, she finally had a second to catch her breath. A few seconds later, she had company.

"Hey Roni. Running late again?" Brad jokingly said as he took a seat right next to his girlfriend.

"Like always. I don't know what it is about this class, but I'm always caught off guard, and end up almost being late."

"Good thing this is the last time we actually have to show up here." Brad said as the professor walked into the front of the room.

"Full house! I'm surprised," Professor Tillman said as she put her briefcase down on the desk. Almost simultaneously, a loud bang was heard, and it took Roni a long time to realize it wasn't from the briefcase hitting the desk.


	2. Last Day, The 2

"Another year down!" Charlie proclaimed as he caught Zoey sneaking up on him.

"And it couldn't have come any sooner." Zoey said as she kissed Charlie hello. "I got a message that dad wanted to see me. Is he in?"

"Yeah, go on in," Charlie acknowledged.

"I will, in a minute. Whatchya got planned for tomorrow?" said Zoey as she began to play with Charlie's tie.

"Nice and quiet evening with my sister, if I get out of here in time. Why?"

"You think you could get a babysitter?" Zoey said as she kissed Charlie again.

"Probably. What do you have planned?" Charlie asked as he returned the kiss, now fully over his fear of kissing Zoey too close to the Oval Office.

"Nothing yet, but I was thinking we could do something, maybe go out to eat. You think about it, I'm gonna go see what dad wants." She said as she gave Charlie one last kiss.

*************************************************

"Mrs. Bartlet, what a pleasant surprise to hear from you." Sam said with a somewhat shocked expression on his face, as he held the phone up to his ear. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm aware that today is the last day of class for both Zoey and Roni, and knowing my husband as I do, I think he plans on celebrating. Sam, is there anything you would like to tell me?" Abbey's voice said through the telephone.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mrs. Bartlet," said Sam, trying to get a hold of the nightmare situation that he had in front of him. He knew if he told on the President, that he would definitely feel the wrath from him. If he didn't tell the First Lady the truth, he would certainly take a beating for that. Then there was always what he thought would be in his best interest, get the chili party canceled, for he could think of better things to be doing on a Friday night. Things with Mallory.

"Don't give me that, Sam. I know all about how the President throws these parties when I'm not around. How do you think I had the good sense to come home early last time?"

"That's a good question, ma'am. Why did you come home early?"

"Why don't you ask Josh that question. I'm sure he'll fill you in," the First Lady said with amusement.

*************************************************

"Hey dad!" Zoey said as she walked into the Oval Office. Upon doing so, she found her dad and his best friend sitting opposite of each other on the couches. The two gentlemen, doing anything but talking of work, for they had both been laughing when Zoey made her appearance.

"Hey sweetie, come here," Jed said as he motioned for his daughter to come sit next to him on the couch.

"Hello Zoey, how's it going?" Leo asked.

"Keepin' it real, like always," was Zoey's response.

"One of these days, Zoey, you're going to have to explain that to the two of us," the President said with a smile on his face.

"It basically means that everything is going good for me," said Zoey as she sat down next to her father and gave him a hug and kiss.

"If that's it, Mr. President…." Leo began.

"Yeah, you can go now Leo." the President finished his friends question with the answer. As Leo got up and disappeared into his office, the President turned all of his attention over to his daughter. "So what do you have planned for later today? Say, around 6:30 p.m."

"Knowing you as I do, I'd say I'll probably be in the residence, at one of your chili parties."

"Ah, you know me to well," Jed said chuckling as he put his hand on his chest.

"You are really planning on trying that again, after last time?" asked Zoey.

"You're mother is not scheduled to come home for another five days. Besides, I've already checked up on her. There is absolutely no way she could possibly leave right now. In fact, she can't leave for at least another two days." Jed said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't know dad. I think you're walking a thin line. Mom is full of surprises."

"You're not planning on calling her and getting me in trouble, are you?"

"No, dad, I would never do something like that," Zoey said as her father gave her a very serious you-better-not-do-it look.


	3. Last Day, The 3

Notes: Before you read this part, please note that the names the four new people use do not belong to me. I am not trying to steal them, or paint them the wrong way. And DC, please take no offense. You already assured me you wouldn't, but stil, don't, cause I mean no offense.

The banging noise came from the three doors. Four men, heavily armed, just broke into the classroom. One from the rear right door, one from the rear left door, and two from the front door on the left side. After everyone in the room realized what was happening, panic over took them. Some students hit the floor in fear that bullets would begin to spray everywhere. Others attempted to run out, but none of them had any luck.

When the four men entered, they made sure that the door they walked into was impossible to open from the outside. They then blocked their doors with their bodies, holding their guns up. The first man that had come into the front door went over to the podium, and began speaking to the crowd of about three hundred students, including Roni Bartlet. "Hello class. This is your new teacher, just call me Superman. Today, we are going to have a little fun. Now, if everyone will kindly keep their seats, and be quiet, we can begin today's class. If you will look to the right rear door, you will see a gentleman, his name, for today's sake, will be Heman. The man on the opposite side of the room from him is going to be Spiderman. And last, is this guy over here, by the door that we all came in from. His name will be Batman. Now that that is settled, I'd like to take roll. Would Roni Bartlet please come front and center?"

"Don't do it," whispered Brad. "If you go, he's just gonna hurt you."

"If I don't go, there's a chance everyone here gets hurt." Roni said as she took a deep breath.

*************************************************

"BOBBIE! Are you okay?" a very dazed secret service agent asked as he crawled over to Bobbie Johnson. He had been standing outside the front door, and when this all happened, he had to check on his comrades, but they weren't answering their mikes. So he decided to crawl to the other side of the abandoned hallways. He would have run if he could, but the pain from his bullet wounds were preventing that. As soon as he reached his destination, he checked on the agent that was outside the rear left door. Once Nate confirmed the agent's death, he moved on to Bobbie. "Oh my God, you're bleeding." Nate said as he searched her body for any bullet holes. Upon finding three bullet entry spots on her back, he frantically searched for some sort of communications device. After searching all over his person, he found no phones, nothing. He then went on to search Bobbie, and still came up empty handed. Deciding that his best chance of getting help would be to exit the psychology building and get a student, or passerby to help him get word to the White House.

The very wounded agent began the very long journey from his current position, to the outside doors. Grunting and groaning all the way, he finally made it. Now, his only problem was reaching up and opening the door. With his extensive injuries, that was no longer an easy task.

*************************************************

"Josh!" Sam exclaimed as he entered the deputy chief of staff's office.

Looking up from the papers in hand, Josh said, "Yeah, what Sam?"

"I just got an interesting phone call, and I was left with a question unanswered, but was told that you were the man to answer it for me."

"What's your question?" Josh asked.

"What role did you play in the First Lady's early return the last time the President threw a chili party?" an extremely curious Sam asked.

Caught off-guard, it took a while for his ears and brain to catch up to each other. "I may have, sort of, told the First Lady about the party, and aided in arranging her return trip. So you are the lucky person she called this time, huh?"

"I'm not sure if I would say lucky. It's pretty much a darned if you do, darned if you don'' situation."

"Not really, cause unless you spill the beans, the President will never find out. So the best thing for you to do is to tell Mrs. Bartlet what she wants to know"

"Being more afraid of Mrs. Bartlet, than the President also helped in making my decision to rat out the President," said Sam as he somewhat smiled.

*************************************************

Finally getting the door open, Nate crawled outside, and much to his benefit, there were many people within the vicinity. One young female, probably around 19 or 20 years old was the closest person to his position. As she walked passed him, he tugged on her pants leg. Shaking her leg, she yelled, "GO AWAY, YOU SICKO!"

"Wait! Help!" he screamed back, with no response. Discouraged, but not even close enough to giving up, he looked around and spotted a male student sitting, with his back against Nate. Very painfully, Nate began to crawl once again. Upon getting close to a foot away from the guy, Nate cried out, "Help me!"

This caught the attention of the guy, who had been reading a book. The guy turned around to face the voice of his distraction. "Dude, go away!"

"Help! I need help! I'm a secret service agent. I've been shot, and there's more down in the building. Ms. Bartlet is in danger, I need help."

"Yeah, and I'm the Easter bunny," responded the man.

"In my wallet is my badge," Nate said as he proceeded to take out his wallet. Once he had done so, he opened it up and flashed the badge to the student. "Now will you help me? I need to get in contact with the White House. I need to tell them what is going on."

"Yeah, yeah, here. Use my cell phone," the man said as he fished out a phone from his backpack.


	4. Last Day, The 4

As Roni began to stand up, Brad couldn't help but to worry. He began to pull at her pants leg, to get her to sit back down. Perhaps Superman hadn't seen her yet, Brad thought.

"Spiderman, you're closest to our prized pupil, why don't you walk her down the isle," directed Superman.

"Soo much for that idea," Brad thought.

The man that has come to be known as Spiderman quickly walked up to Roni, roughly grabbed her by the arm, and yanked her out of the row. With this rough display, Roni came to the conclusion that it probably would be best if she walked down to the front under her own power. Once Spiderman and Roni reached the front, and Roni was brought face to face with the main perpetrator, Superman, he began to speak again. "Now, Ms. Bartlet, I know all about how you've mastered the martial arts, so if you get any ideas, I'd just like to point out that all four of us bad guys have guns. Not to mention the fact that we are very well spread out. But incase your little heart decides to do something, well, we're going to make that a little hard. Tie her up Spiderman."

At Superman's command, Spiderman once again grabbed Roni and jerked her over to a chair. Once Superman got her to sit down, he searched his BDU pants for the duct tape he knew he placed in them. After successfully finding it, he taped Roni up to a chair, center stage.

"Now, incase anyone else decides they want to be hero's, or tries to save themselves, I'd like you all to take notice of this nice big, shinny metallic object that is in my hand. It is called a gun. My three colleagues all have one as well, along with lots of ammo." Superman said, still standing at the podium. "So don't try anything.

After walking to Roni, and emptying her pockets, finding a cell phone, Superman went on to say, "Everyone who has a cell phone, I want you to take it out now, as Batman and Heman will be around to collect them.

*************************************************

"Mr. President, Ron Butterfield is here to see you. He says it's urgent," Nancy said as she entered the Oval Office.

Acknowledging Nancy, he replied, "Okay Nancy. Give me a minute will you?"

"Sure thing Mr. President."

"You should go now," Jed looked at his daughter.

"Yeah, see you tonight, if not sooner. Love ya." Zoey said as she kissed her dad on the cheek and left the office. As soon as she left, Butterfield entered.

"Hello Mr. President, thank you for seeing me on such short notice," Butterfield said as he walked over to Jed's desk and shook his hand.

"What's going on Ron?" Jed asked very intrigued.

"A situation has developed at Georgetown University."

"What kind of situation Ron?" Jed now very concerned asked.

"Approximately four men entered the psychology building twenty minutes ago and took everyone in the lecture hall hostage. In doing so, two agents have been wounded, and the third has died. There is no news yet on your daughter's condition, but we are certain that she is in there."

"Is this some kind of prank?" Jed said, uncertain of how to respond.

"No, sir. It is very much real, and very much happening right now."

"Have you been able to get in contact with these men? Do you know who they are? What they want?" Jed asked as he intensely watched Butterfield.

"No, we do not know who they are, or what they want. And we have not been able to contact any of them yet, but we are trying."

*************************************************

"Toby." Josh said as he entered Toby's office.

"Go away!" Toby responded without even looking up from his keyboard, where he was typing away.

"I need some files from you."

Looking up at Josh, Toby repeated himself, "Go away! I'm in the middle of a thought. Go bug Sam."

"I already spent my quality time with Sam today, and now it's your turn. Besides, I really need these files." Josh said as he took it upon himself to sit down.

"Did I say you could sit? What files do you need? Quickly, I don't have all day."

"The energy bill files."

"Over there," Toby said pointing to his right. "If you find them under that pile of junk, you can keep 'em."

"Thanks Toby, you've been a real help." Josh sarcastically retorted.

"Okay, now go away." Toby yelled. "You've already messed up my train of thought enough."

"Toby," Ginger said as she walked into her boss's office. "The President needs to see you, and Josh right away."


	5. Last Day, The 5

"Danny! You are not supposed to be back here." CJ said as she caught a glimpse of Danny out of the corner of her eye.

"Carol said I could come in."

"What do you want?" CJ asked, with a lack of interest present.

"I want to know about the hostage situation in Roni's psychology class that started around twenty minutes ago."

"What are you talking about Danny?"

"Sources say that around 1:03 p.m. four armed men entered the psychology building at Georgetown, shot at the secret service agents, and is now holding Roni's class hostage." Danny said in his reporter tone.

"I know nothing of this." CJ began as her phone started to ring. "Hello, CJ Cregg…..Okay Leo, I'll be right there. I have to go Daniel." With that, CJ got up and left her office, while Danny stayed back admiring Gail and Angel. Although he and CJ were no longer together, and hadn't been for at least eight months now, he still liked to come in and check up on the fish.

*************************************************

"Hello Samuel," Mallory said walking into Sam's office.

"Mallory! What a wonderful surprise. What are you doing here?" Sam threw his pencil down on his desk.

"I thought it would be nice if we could have lunch together. You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"No, I haven't. So where do you want to go?"

"I don't know, it's your turn to pick. So grab your coat and come on."

As Sam stood up and began to follow Mallory's instructions as Cathy walked in. "Cathy, I'm glad you're here. Mal and I are going to get lunch. I'll be back in an hour."

"I'm sorry, Sam, but the President has asked for your presence in the Oval Office."

"What? Now?! Why?"

"Mrs. Landingham didn't say, but you are to report over there immediately," Cathy said as she walked out of Sam's office.

"Mallory, I'm really sorry. Maybe you could wait for me, or we could have lunch tomorrow." Sam suggested as they walked out of his office.

"I can't tomorrow, I'm spending the day with my father, Sam. I suppose I can wait for you for a little bit, but if you're in there longer than ten minutes, I'm leaving without you."

"Fair enough."

*************************************************

"Now, will our prized pupil be so kind as to give us daddy's phone number?" Superman asked mockingly.

"Go to hell," was Roni's response.

"Go to hell? Go to hell?!" Superman repeated. "Why don't you go to hell?" he said as he smacked Roni upside the head.

"Hey!" Brad shouted as he stood up. "Leave her alone."

"What's this? Do I smell the blood of a boyfriend?"

"Leave her alone you jack*ss. And don't touch her again!"

"So what, are you trying to show off for your girlfriend? Trying to be her hero? Didn't I say no heroics? Just for that, I'm gonna have you tied up too. Spiderman, tie up our night in shining armor." Spiderman did just as he was told, and tied, or rather taped Brad up in the back of the room, where he had been sitting. "Now, Roni, what is daddy's phone number? A private line please, or would you rather I show you how serious I am before you give it to me?"

"Don't tell him Roni!" Brad shouted.

"I-800-GOTOHELL!"

"Okay, you wanna play hardball, let's play hardball. Heman, untie lover boy and bring him up here." commanded Superman.

*************************************************

 


	6. Last Day, The 6

As the last of the senior staff walked in to the Oval Office, still confused as to why they were doing so, the President spoke up, "Twenty minutes ago four armed men took my daughter's psychology class hostage."

The President's words replayed over and over again in every last one of the senior staff member's heads.

"The assailants have shot and killed one agent, and wounded two others. They have made no attempts in contacting anyone. Their identities are unknown, as well as their intentions." The President continued, as the pain in his voice became more apparent with every word. "Since I can't go down there, I'm gonna want one or two of you to go down there and help the secret service, the FBI, and all the other agencies involved."

"I'll go," Josh said as he stepped forward.

"You can count me in too, Mr. President." Sam quietly said.

"Okay, thanks Josh, Sam. Keep in contact with me. I want updates every time there is an update."

"Yes, sir." both Josh and Sam replied at the same time, as they left the office.

"CJ, nothing to the press. Not until we find out something about these guys."

Realizing that some of the press, such as Danny, already knows, CJ thought it would just be best to go along with the President, and so she said, "Yes, sir."

"Leo, you're gonna go through her hate mail with the SS guys, right?" Jed asked as his friend nodded his head yes. "Toby, I'd appreciate it if you teamed up with the secretaries, as well as some of the FBI guys. Someone is getting a list of all the students in that class. We need to contact their families. I'd make some of these calls, but I have to track down my wife and let her know what is going on." Jed said very distractedly, for all that was on his mind was Roni. He just barely found out she was still alive less than a year ago, there was no way he could loose her now. No way.

*************************************************

A few minutes later, once he was all alone in his Office, Jed lifted the phone up to his ear, and began to dial some numbers. After about two rings, Abbey picked up on the other end of the connection. "Hello." She said.

"Abbey…." Jed said with fear in his voice as he tried to find the words to go on.

"Jed, what's wrong?"

"Roni, she's been taken hostage."

Dead air followed Jed's words, as Abbey tried to let the devastating news she just heard sink in. After a little bit, she finally was able to repeat, "Hostage?"

"Yeah, four guys, they took her psychology class hostage. About twenty-five minutes ago."

The impact of everything still had yet to make an appearance into Abbey's brain, as she mumbled, "Roni."

"Abbey…" Jed started to speak as Abbey cut him off.

"What about her detail?"

"One died. The other two have been wounded. Abbey, maybe you should come home."

"As soon as possible."

*************************************************

Brad's mouth started bleeding as Superman kept hitting him, as Heman held Brad's arms behind him, so as to make him immobile. "You still want to play games with me?" Superman turned his attention to Roni.

"Roni, don't tell him." Brad said again.

"If you let the left side of the room go, I'll tell you the number."

"WHAT?! Who do you think you are ordering me around?"

"Those are my conditions. If you want the phone number, you have to let everyone on the left side of the room go. It's not like you need them. You'll still have me, Brad, and the other 100 students on the right side. You can afford to let them go."

"What if I don't? Huh?" Superman came over to Roni and slapped her upside the head. "What if I don't?"

"If you don't, then I won't tell you the number you want. Simple as that. Let them go, get the number. Keep them, don't get the number."

"Batman!" the main perpetrator called out. At this command, Batman practically ran to his boss, Superman. "Let them out. But only the people on the left side."


	7. Last Day, The 7

Josh and Sam drove up to the psychology building, and parked in one of the handicap spots, as it was the closest space available. The two arrived just in time to see the two ambulances, filled with two secret service agents, off. Getting out of the car, they both surveyed the area and found an FBI agent who appeared to be the head guy. As they walked over to him, the FBI agent saw them, and said, "Sorry folks, but you're going to have to leave the area."

"We're from the White House." Sam said.

"The President sent us over. Josh Lyman, deputy chief of staff. This is Sam Seaborn, deputy communications director. We've been sent to get updates for the President."

"Robert Lloyd. Sorry about the mix-up. As of right now, there are no updates. Nothing has happened. We are barely getting set-up." the FBI agent said as the front doors of the building opened up and what seemed like thousands of students came running and screaming out. "Looks like I spoke up too soon."

Grabbing one of the many students, Sam began asking questions. "Excuse me, ma'am. What's going on in there? Why have you all been let go?"

"Roni told Superman that if he wanted her dad's phone number, that he would have to let the left side of the room go, so he did."

"Superman?" Robert repeated. "Who is that?"

"Superman is the main bad guy," the girl explained.

"Who are the others?" Josh asked.

"Spiderman, Batman, and Heman."

"Has anyone been hurt?" Robert asked.

"No, not really. Superman tied two people up, Roni, and I assume her boyfriend. He's smacked both of them a couple times, but that's it."

"Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"No, sorry. That's all I know."

*************************************************

"Mr. President," Josh began. "Approximately half of the students have been let go. In order to make Toby's job easier, Sam and a few of the agents are walking around getting all of their names down."

"Do we know why they were let go, Josh?"

"Yes, sir. Roni told the head guy, that she would not give him a phone number to contact you with, unless the left side of the room was released."

"Roni…?"

"One of the students said that she has been tied up, and placed in the front of the room. Superman, which is what the head guy is calling himself, has smacked her around a few times, but nothing else. Brad too."

"Bastard! What about the other three, do we know anything about them yet?"

"Yes, sir, but not much. They are going by the names, Batman, Spiderman, and Heman. That's all we know."

*************************************************

"There, I let them go. Now give me the number."

"555-1654."

Superman quickly fished one of many cell phones from the backpacks of phones that Batman and Spiderman had collected. As soon as he turned the lucky phone on, he dialed the number Roni told him.

"President Bartlet's office, Charlie Young speaking. What can I do for you?" Charlie said as he answered the phone.

"I would like to speak with the President." Superman said as he walked over to Roni and pointed the gun at her head.

"Who's calling, please?"

"Superman's the name. Holding Roni Bartlet hostage is my game." he said as he pretended to pull the trigger and shoot Roni.

Charlie quickly pressed the hold button and ran into the Oval Office. "Sir, I don't know if it's a prank, or what, but there is some joker, going by Superman, on the phone saying he has Roni held hostage."

"Mr. President, you can pick the phone up, after I do," instructed Butterfield. As he picked the telephone up and motioned towards Jed, who also picked the phone up.

"This is President Bartlet. Who am I speaking to?"

"Superman, didn't Charlie tell you? I think he's slacking off, you should fire him." he snickered into the phone.

"Well Superman, you have something that is very precious to me, and I'd like her back."

"If you're patient enough, and give in to my demands, maybe I'll make that happen."

"What do you want?" Jed said into the telephone.

"Well, for starters, I skipped lunch. You think you could have an extra cheese pizza sent over? On your dime, and I don't want no agents delivering it. I want a normal, regular, everyday pizza delivery boy."

"What else?"

"I haven't made up my mind yet. But as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know Josiah." Superman said sarcastically.

"How do we keep in contact with each other?"

"If I need something, I'll call you." Superman said as he hung up.


	8. Last Day, The 8

Realizing that she left something behind, Zoey left the residence to return to her father's office. Charlie looked up as he saw her approaching.

"Zoey…"

"Hey Charlie. Miss me?" Zoey said as she went in for a kiss.

"Zoey, Roni is being held hostage."

"Very funny Charlie."

"I'm serious. Four lunatics took her class hostage."

As Zoey's eyes widened from this news, she ran into the Oval Office, to find her father hanging the phone up.

"Someone wire these phones. We need to be ready for the next phone call." Butterfield shouted. "Mr. President, for whatever it's worth right now, you're doing wonderfully. "

Looking up Jed saw Zoey standing in the doorway, watching the excitement happening before her very eyes, in disbelief. "Zoey…"

"Yeah, Charlie told me." She said as her father walked up to her and took her into a huge hug. He held her very tight, and almost refused to let go. Now just if I didn't let Roni go, he thought to himself.

"Dad, it's gonna be alright. Everything is going to work out." Zoey whispered into his ear. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"I hope you're right," he whispered back into her ear as he finally eased up on the hug, and let her loose, against better judgement.

*************************************************

"So what do you think is going on in there?" Sam asked Josh as he continued to pace around the outside of the building.

"I don't know," Josh said as he played all of the possible things that could be going on in there in his head.

"How long do you think this will last?"

"I don't know."

"I feel so helpless, being out here." Sam said as he clenched his fists.

"Yeah, me too. But it's all we can do, for now." Josh replied as the pizza man drove up.

"I need a volunteer!" Shouted Robert as he took the pizzas from the pizza guy.

"What do you need?" Sam asked jumping forward, eager to do more than he had been doing.

"I need an agent to dress up like a pizza delivery boy."

"I'll do it." Sam said, ignoring the part about needing an agent.

"You're wearing a suit, they'll never buy it. Sorry."

"I've got some jeans in my car over there," said Sam as he pointed towards a black Lexus.

*************************************************

"What is taking the pizza so long to get here?" Superman began to pick up another cell phone, as a loud knock came from the rear left door. Throwing the phone back into the backpack, he got up from the table at the front of the room that he had been sitting on. "Batman, go get that, bring teacher with you."

"Sure thing boss." Batman responded as he complied with the demands made of him. Opening the door, holding his gun to Professor Tillman's back, "You the pizza guy?"

"Yeah, I've got five cheese pizzas here, and five pepperoni pizzas here." Sam said holding ten boxes in his arms.

"Ten?! I only asked for one. You can take the other nine back." Superman said as he listened to what was going on at the door.

"Well they're all paid for, and the order says deliver here, so…"

Storming to the back of the room, Superman pulled Sam into the door, knocking all the boxes on the ground. Batman bent over, found one that was cheese, and then secured the door, and made his way back to his post a few feet away, throwing Mrs. Tillman into one of the rows.

"Who the hell are you?" Superman pushed Sam into a chair in the front of the room.

"I'm a delivery guy from Pizza Hut."

"You think I'm stupid? Who do you work for? FBI? Secret Service?"

"Pizza Hut. So what's going on in here?" Sam taking survey of the room, his eyes resting on Roni.

"We're just having ourselves a party on the last day of classes. You're welcome to join, in fact, I insist. Now, tell me who you work for!" Superman smacked Sam across the mouth.

"President Bartlet. Sam Seaborn at your service," said Sam spitting into Superman's face.

"Well Sam, I have this message I want to give to the President, would you mind giving it to him?" Superman smirked as he whacked Sam upside the head with his gun. "Spiderman, toss him out."


	9. Last Day, The 9

"It's been ten minutes. This isn't good." Robert said looking at his watch. "I knew I should have sent in one of my boys."

"Don't worry. Sam's a good guy. He always comes through." Josh said, looking at the front of the building, waiting for Sam to come out. After a few minutes, Sam finally came stumbling out, one hand holding on to his head, the other helping him keep his balance. "SAM!!" Josh screamed as he ran over to his friend and helped him walk. "What happened in there?"

"They pulled me in. Then the main person hit me. I think it was with his gun, but I can't be sure. Next thing I know, I'm laying on the floor outside the classroom. What's a concussion feel like?"

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you a doctor." Robert joined the group and helped to support Sam from the left side. "Can you remember anything else? Was anyone hurt? Exactly how many people would you say were in there?"

"No one was hurt, or dead. There was a good eighty, ninety people in there."

"Ninety people. Good, that's what we estimated. Do you remember what our four guys looked like?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Think you could look through some books, or sit down with an agent and door a composite drawing on the computer?" Robert asked, realizing that no one had done this with the students that had already been released.

"You bet."

*************************************************

"It's been three hours since we've heard anything from these goons!" The President shouted as he walked back and fourth in his office.

"Calm down, Mr. President." Butterfield said.

"Calm down?! Calm down?! You CALM DOWN! That isn't your daughter in there. So don't tell me to calm down."

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, it's just…no good will come out of these hysterics."

"Why haven't they called? What could be going on in that class room?"

"We have agents working on it, sir."

"Well tell them to work harder!"

"Sir, we are doing the best we can. Seaborn has almost finished with the last composite. And the ones that he has finished, well, we are very close to figuring out their identity."

"What's taking so long? Every minute you waste, is a minute longer my daughter has to be in there." Looking up as Leo walked in the Office, Jed became silent, as he awaited some sort of update from his friend.

*************************************************

For a good thirty minutes, Roni had been staring at the man who was going by Superman. From time to time, Superman would return the stare, or yell at her to stop, but she just kept staring. She knew she recognized him, she just had to figure out how she recognized him.

"What the hell are you staring at?" he could no longer take the stares.

"How many guesses do I get?"

"Why are you staring at me?" Superman asked growing angry at Roni's last remark.

"I'm just thinking how much you look like your brother" was Roni's reply.

"So you do remember." Superman said putting an emphasis on do.

"It took me a while, but yeah, I remember."

"Good, now you know what this is all about."

"It will never work." Roni said frankly.

"Yes, it will."

"No, it won't. I'm telling you, it's not going to work. It will never happen. My father will never go for it."

"Not even if I have his little girl?"

"He won't be able to do it."

"He's the President of the United States!"

"What would you have done if he wasn't my father?" Roni's curiosity had been peaked. When she got no response, she then said, "They won't let him do it."


	10. Last Day, The 10

"We've been all over every last piece of hate mail she had generated, sir. Nothing has come of any of it." Leo responded to Jed's silence.

"You're kidding, right? I saw the stack of mail. Nothing came out of that?" Jed said with disbelief.

"No, sir. Nothing came of it," said Leo as Sam entered the room.

"Sam, I heard you got hit over the head, and may have a concussion. What are you doing here?" The President asked, by this time, all the life had left his voice.

"I couldn't go home and sit there all alone, knowing that Roni is in that classroom, sir."

"Sam, do you know if anything has come of the computer sketches you did?" Leo asked, fishing for some good news for the President.

"Nothing."

"You know nothing? Or nothing came of them?" Leo searched for clarification.

"Nothing came of them, sorry. Either I got the drawings all messed up, or they have no criminal record or file or anything."

Jed shot up from his position on one of the couches, and walked over to one of many windows in the Oval Office, and just stared outside, with a blank expression on his face.

"Sir?" Toby said, stepping into the office.

"What is it Toby?" Leo asked, knowing fully that the President wasn't going to answer, for he had toned everything out.

"All of the families have been notified, and we finally have an accurate count of how many people are in the classroom."

"How many?"

"Ninety-eight. Here is a list of their names." Toby made his way over to where the President had been sitting, and sat down in his place. No one dared say anything more, as an eerie silence took the room over. Then, all of a sudden, the phone rang.

*************************************************

Zoey, having retired to the residence, not knowing what she could do to help, was going out of her mind. She tried to do many different things, to get her mind off of the current events, but to no avail. First, she turned the stereo on, and blasted it, hoping it would distract her from her thoughts. When that didn't work, she decided to try watching TV. Maybe if she got involved in a really good movie or TV show, just maybe that would do the trick. Nope, it didn't work. Nothing seemed to be working. Zoey had gotten very close to her younger sister in the short months they have known each other. Wait, it's almost been a year. Yeah, cause she showed up in June last year, and it was currently the very beginning of May. May fourth to be exact.

Realizing the TV was doing nothing for her, she turned it off, and decided to give in to temptation, and think about the situation, and her sister. Because she didn't want to think about the bad things that have happened, or were currently happening, she just thought back to the good times she shared with Roni. She remembered the first time they met, and how Zoey knew from the start that she would hate her sister. Or was it jealousy? Yeah, that's probably what it was. Zoey was jealous. She thought that with her long lost, not so dead, sister coming back, her parents would devout their time to Roni, and ignore Zoey. How wrong was she. Jed still made it a point to meddle in her love life, among other things. And Abbey, well, nothing changed there either. So it turns out she had nothing to be jealous of.

She moved on to remember when Roni announced that she would be attending Georgetown. This infuriated Zoey. She was still somewhat jealous of Roni, not yet realizing there was nothing to be jealous of. So when she found out she would be going to the same school as her, she totally flipped. There was no way Zoey would let this happen, but then, there was no way she could stop it from happening either. One thing she could do was make her feelings known. Which she did, loud and clear. Everyone from miles around knew her feelings, but they all figured they would go away in time. All Zoey needed was time.

Time is what Zoey had. In the months of knowing about her long lost sister, the two had nothing but time to get to know each other. Of course it wasn't until Roni finally opened up to Zoey that things began to change with them. Until then, there was the hatred, contempt, and jealousy they had for each other. But then, then Roni opened up. Zoey saw what Roni was really made of, and she admired it. She found out exactly what kind of life Roni had had. She came to understand what made her tick. How she grew up, what kinds of things she did when she was a little kid. The two became inseparable. Those were the good times. Those were the memories Zoey needed to concentrate on to help her get through this craziness.


	11. Last Day, The 11

Abbey had gotten the call from her husband just a few hours ago. Immediately, she made arrangements to return to D.C. Hopefully the situation was all over by the time she returned. It had to be, and Roni would have to be safe, in the White House. Abbey kept repeating this to herself. Maybe if she repeated it enough times, she would actually begin to believe it. Nope, didn't work. But then, she didn't actually think that it would. Maybe if she thought of all the good things that have happened to her since Roni has come back, maybe that would help ease her fears. If she would just stop thinking about what was happening, and remember what has happened.

The first thing that Abbey remembered, happened years ago. About eighteen and a half years ago to be exact. She remembered how she was in the kitchen, cooking her husband breakfast. She was planning on surprising Jed with breakfast in bed. She had to surprise him, cause if she didn't, he wouldn't let her do it. Jed always got way soo worried when it came to his pregnant wife. The past three times she had been pregnant, he wouldn't let her do a thing, and this time was no different. As she flipped the heart shaped pancakes, Jed began to stir in bed. Once he caught the scent coming from the kitchen, he jumped out of bed, and went straight to the kitchen. Upon arriving, he found Abbey standing at the stove. He just stayed back, taking in the sight for a second, then his instincts kicked in and he made her stop. This all happened right around the same time that her water broke.

When they arrived at the hospital, the doctors began to get worried. Abbey wasn't due for another month and a half. Yet here she was, in labor, ready to give birth. The contractions still being very far apart, her doctor decided to do an ultrasound, just to see what was going on inside Abbey's womb. Panic overtook the doctors as they went running all around. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Roni's neck, and she didn't appear to be breathing. The doctors decided to do a c-section. They prepped Abbey, but had made some mistakes. Abbey the pain meds she was given wore off right about the time that Roni was taken from Abbey. She could have sworn she heard the baby cry when she was taken from the womb. Everyone told her she was hallucinating, even Jed. But Abbey knew her baby was not born dead.

Abbey then moved her thoughts along, she thought back to her last anniversary. She remembered how Jed and her private celebration was interrupted by a phone call. She remembered how Jed fainted as soon as he answered it. It was Roni. Her baby was alive, just like she suspected all those years ago. That was one of the most wonderful things to have happened to Abbey. Next to her three other daughters, and Jed. Well, actually, they were all on the same page, they all meant everything to Abbey.

Still struggling to keep from thinking about the current events unfolding, she moved her thought process along. She began remembering the first time Roni called her mother. When Roni began to open up to her, and confide secrets in her. She remembered when Roni brought Brad home, and Jed's reaction to it. Abbey had realized, deep down, that Jed was crazy about Brad. But Abbey knew he would never admit it. Roni's surprise birthday party back in December, and how Roni managed to change it around brought a smile to Abbey's face. She thought about when Roni went off to college for the first time. And here we go again. Why did she have to think about Roni and college. All it did was bring her back into reality, and force her to think about the current situation going on.

*************************************************

Jed, still out there in space, hadn't heard the phone ring. He was too involved in his thoughts to hear anything. He thought that maybe, just maybe if he could remember back to the good times he and Roni had shared in the short time since Roni had walked into his life, that he wouldn't go insane. It was worth a shot. Jed was so desperate, he was willing to try just about anything.

Staring out the window, Jed thought back to when Roni was born. The doctors wouldn't let him go in to the operation room, so he was in the waiting room, with Leo. Just as Jed gave up pacing the waiting room, and sat down, the doctor came in. He said that Abbey was fine, but didn't mention the baby. Why didn't the doctor mention the baby? Jed remembered asking that question, and he remembered not liking the response. As soon as he found out, he ran to Abbey's side, and tried to comfort her. He listened to her ramble on about how the baby had just been kicking her that morning, and how she heard the baby cry when she was taken from Abbey's body. Jed insisted that the cry she heard had come from the operation room right next door, for that's what he was told. The doctors said that's what it was, so it had to be true.

Next, he thought back to that night. The night that Roni walked into his life. When he saw her, for the first time, he thought of how much she looked like his blushing bride. Beauty was obviously on her side. Jed knew from the start that he was going to have his hands full with this one and boys. Just as he had with his other daughters.

Speaking of having problems with boys, the next thing Jed thought about was the night that Roni brought Brad home. He knew he should have built that dungeon, maybe if he had Roni wouldn't be held hostage right now. No, can't think about that. The good times, must focus on the good times. Jed secretly liked Brad, but there was no way he would ever tell anyone. Although he knew that Abbey knew. After all, Brad was captain of the debate team, the football team, and the baseball team. He was in the national honor's society, was President of DECA and FBLA. He had graduated from high school as valedictorian, and was able to match wits with Jed. Anyone who could do such a thing was definitely deserving of Jed's respect. But he was dating Jed's daughter, so he couldn't let it be known, publicly. He did have his reputation to protect.

Staring out the window, his thoughts began to speed up. He remembered how happy he was when she decided to go to Georgetown, instead of returning to California to go to college. He thought about the incident with the son of the President of France. The incident with Keith, in the Oval Office. He remembered how Roni said Keith had once tried to kill her. And now it was happening all over again. It wasn't quite the same, after all, this was a stranger, and Keith was her father for seventeen years. Dwelling on these memories, Jed clinched his fists, as he finally heard Leo calling out to him that there was a phone call.


	12. Last Day, The 12

"So tell me, why do you think he won't do it?" Superman asked Roni as he waved his gun around.

"Cause I know my father. He won't do it."

"Roni, what's going on? How do you know him?" Brad asked.

"Shut up! Did I say you could talk lover boy?" Superman said as he walked over and smacked Brad, again.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Roni shouted angrily.

Walking back over to Roni, he asked, "What exactly is it that you think I want? Just to make sure we are on the same page."

"Well, hmmm, lets see. This is a tough one. I seem to remember a few years back, testifying against your brother in a court of law. The same court of law that ended up putting your brother on death row. So I'm thinking that you are holding me hostage, as pay back for doing that to your brother, seeing how I was the key witness. Also, you are going to use my father to get your brother out of jail."

"That's right," he admitted. "Since you're so smart, and you seem to be on a roll, can you tell me why I've waited so long to make these demands?"

"I've actually been thinking about that. You're probably under the assumption that the longer you wait, the more serious my father will take you. And the more desperate he will become. And then he will just have to give in to your demands. Well, it's not going to work."

"Yeah, you've said that already. Why isn't it going to work?"

"Once you make that demand, the Vice President will probably start the process of the 25th amendment. All of the cabinet members, will probably agree with whatever argument Hoynes decides to use to persuade them, and they will all sign. Then, my father will no longer have the power to do so, Hoynes will. And Hoynes has no connection to me, except that I'm his President's daughter. Now, when my father goes to him, and begs him to get your brother out of death row, Hoynes will probably not listen to him, for the same reasons that he began the process of invoking the 25th amendment. That's why I don't think this is going to work."

*************************************************

"Mr. President!' Leo shouted for like the tenth time.

Finally snapping out of it, Jed said, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Abbey's on the phone, line one." Leo said as he motioned for everyone in the room to leave.

Still very distracted, and no life in him, he answered the phone, "Hey."

"Hey yourself. So what's the latest word?"

"It's not good Abbey."

"Oh no! She isn't…"

"No, no. We have no word. We've only heard from these guys once, and all they wanted was to order a pizza. Abbey, it's been three hours."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm scared Abigail."

"I am too. But it's going to be alright. Everything is going to turn out just fine. These guys are going to pay. Veronica is going to come home, unharmed. And we are never going to let anything bad happen to her again."

"You got that right. So how much longer until your plane lands?"

"Twenty minutes," was Abbey's reply.

*************************************************

Another hour went by, and the only thing that had changed, was that Abbey was home. But that was all about to change, as the telephone finally rang.

As it rang, it really startled everyone in the room. They had been getting used to the silence. The silence had been present for the last forty minutes, as they all just sat there, staring into space.

Rushing over to the phone, Jed waited for the Ron to pick up the other phone, and to press all the buttons on the equipment that was brought in. Finally, he was allowed to answer it. "Hello?"

"Mr. President, long time no hear." Superman's voice came over loud and clear.

"Four hours, twenty-two minutes, and eight seconds to be exact. How is my daughter? I want to speak with Roni."

"Roni's a little tied up at the moment," Superman said, chuckling at the little pun he had just made.

"If you've hurt her…"

"What? You'll do what to me? Huh?" Superman asked. Not giving Jed a chance to respond, he began to make his demands. "Here's the story. A couple of years ago, a little girl was riding her bike all around the streets of Redlands California. While doing so, she happened to stumble on a chance encounter where she saw something. That little girl then went on to testify at a trial that got someone put on death row. Now, would you like to take a guess at who the little girl was?"

"Roni?" Jed mumbled.

"That's right. It was your daughter. Now, the person that was put on death row happens to be someone very close to me, and I'd like to see that person live. His name is Paul Smith. If you want to see your daughter alive ever again, you are to do the following. You are to give Paul a reprieve or pardon, or whatever it is called that the President gives. And then you are to wire, oh, let's see. It should be a nice round number. Say five million dollars into an account, Paul will give the number to you. Then you are to have him taken to the airport, where a plane is flight ready. No pilot necessary.

At the same time he is being taken to the airport, you are to have a vehicle sent right outside of this building I'm in. A van, with tinted windows, that are bullet proof. I'm sure the FBI or someone has one of them. Now, I'm gonna need a hostage with me, to make sure I don't get hurt while making my escape. So once I'm far enough away, I am sure no one is following me, and I know all the money is in the account, I'll dump Roni out, and give you instructions on how to find her.

Okay, so now you know what I want. To help you realize I'm serious, I'm going to let all of the hostages go, except for Roni. Well, I might keep lover boy too, cause they make such a good couple. But everyone else will be set free right now, all unharmed, if you agree to meet these demands. If you don't agree, well, I'll release them anyway, but I won't promise they will be unharmed, and it might not be the same kind of release that you would like."

Looking at Ron, trying to figure out what he's supposed to say right now. Wanting, longing to say that he will meet all of the demands, but knowing that because he is the President, he can't do that. But if he doesn't agree to meet the demands, ninety-six people will die. No, ninety-eight. And what is to guarantee that if he does meet the demands, that this bastard who took his daughter hostage would actually let her go. He could just be playing games by letting everyone else go. Maybe it was a trick. Everyone begins to think that this guy isn't really that bad, cause he's letting all the hostages go, true to his word. So he will definitely let Roni go, unharmed. But what if it really is a trick. What if he is setting them all up to think that, but is planning on killing Roni, no matter what happens.

Ron was advising the President to say that he will see what he can do. Jed turned his attention to his wife. Abbey, standing next to her husband, holding on to his right arm, was staring off in space. She had tried to listen in on the conversation, but Jed made sure to make that difficult. He didn't want his wife to get upset. He couldn't protect his daughter from the situation, but he could try to protect his wife. If that meant keeping her from knowing everything he does, then so be it. As Abbey looked up at him, in the brief millisecond that their eyes were interlocked, they each got a look into each other's minds.

"You've got it. All of it. I will personally make sure that it is all taken care of, just let my daughter go." Jed knew what he had just said infuriated Ron, but he didn't care. If this was the only way to get Roni back, then so be it.

*************************************************


	13. Last Day, The 13

Josh, still outside of the psychology building, counted the last of the people fleeing the building. "Ninety, ninety-one, two, three, four, five, and ninety six."

"There were ninety-eight people in there, who's he keeping? Roni, and who else?" Robert asked Josh.

"I don't know, but I need to call the President right now, and let him know of these releases." Josh picked his phone off of his belt, and dialed some numbers. "It's Josh….ninety-six, which means he is keeping two….Brad? No, I don't think he has come out. Are you sure he was in there?….Sir, the FBI, they think right now is the perfect time to raid the building…..No, sir. There are no guarantees that Roni and Brad will not get harmed in the extraction. But then there are no guarantees that these guys won't do something themselves….Yes, sir."

"What? What did he say?" Robert asked Josh as he hung his phone up.

"Against his better judgement, he said go for it."

Going to one of the police vehicles, Robert got on the communications channel they had been using, and began to round his troops up. He ordered the snipers to get ready from the rooftops of near by buildings. He ordered the immediate area evacuated all but the team that was getting ready to go in. And then it began.

The team that went in was made up of some fifteen agents. They split up into groups of three, knowing that that was how many entrances there were to the classroom. Each group consisted of five people. Once they were all in place, the leader of the main group gave the order to go in. Finding that the doors had all been secured very tightly, they were unable to get in on the first try. The second and third tries didn't go so well either. Then, the main group finally was able to break the door open on their fourth try. But only the main group. The plan, completely in ruins now, was about to turn out even worse. They were supposed to have the element of surprise on their hands, but having all three doors banged on so loudly, there was no way they were not heard. Then, having an entrance from only one side, and not from three different directions, well it was bad. Very bad.

The first three agents that entered found bullets into their bodies, apparently the guns that Superman and gang had, were armed with cop killer bullets, and easily penetrated the bullet proof vests that the agents were wearing. Leaving only two more agents, alive, Superman quickly had them waving their hands in the air, and kneeling on the ground. Before anyone else could come in, Heman went over and secured the door, again. The two surviving agents were kicked and beaten by Batman, Spiderman, and Superman, as they dragged them over, kicking them all the way. As soon as he got them where he wanted him, Superman had Spiderman tie the two intruders up. He then proceeded to get yet another cell phone.


	14. Last Day, The 14

Needing some air, the President had moved outside, and waved off his detail far enough to give him enough room for himself. Short on his heels was his wife.

"Jed…" Abbey began, her voice trembling with fear.

"Yeah?" Jed barely managed to respond.

"I'm scared."

"Me too, Abigail. Me too."

With that, Abbey walked closer to her husband, and latched her arms around his waist, from behind. Jed making absolutely no response to this action just continued to stare, with no real focal point.

"Josiah Bartlet, it's all going to work out." Abbey said, very unsure of herself. "It has to. Right?" Abbey went fishing for some good news, as well as a response from Jed.

After a moment of silence, "I don't know Abbey." Jed finally turned around and hugged his wife.

No sooner than the two had embraced, did Leo come running out. "Mr. President, phone. It's him."

*************************************************

Picking the phone up, Jed said, "President Bartlet."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING??? Why the f*ck did you send them in? You shouldn't have done that. My demands have changed now. I want every cop to flee at least a good mile from this building. Second, I want that van here, now. And bring a dark bed sheet too. Have that guy, who was he, oh yeah, Sam. Have Sam be the one driving the vehicle. Here is the number to the cell phone that I will have on, 555-9876. As soon as the van is here, and the cops are gone, you call me." Superman hung the phone up, never getting a response from Jed.

"What the hell happened?" Jed turned to Ron for answers.

"Sir, I don't know. Let me make a call." Ron said as he stepped out of the office.

"Jed, what is it? What happened?" Abbey asked.

Ron stepped back in the office, and turned to the President. "Three more agents are dead. Two have been taken hostage."

"How? I thought they had some foolproof plan."

"Two of the entry teams never made it in, and the one that did, there entrance was not as much of a surprise as had hoped. This allowed the men to situate themselves where they could do what they did."

"DAMN IT RON!"

"Yes, sir?"

As this conversation continued, the staff members present were gasping for air, as they couldn't believe any of the day's events. Fed up with his head of the Secret Service, Jed turned to Sam. "Sam?"

"Yes, sir?" Sam replied, not knowing that his driving services had been requested.

"They want you to drive a van to them. You don't have to if you don't want to, but…"

"Yes, sir. I'll be glad to."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Jed said showing some signs of gratitude. "Ron's gonna find you a van." He said looking at Ron, making it very clear that there was no room for discussion. Ron and Sam walked out of the building, where they talked about what was going to happen, and how.

Turning to Toby, Jed asked, "Can you make sure that there are no cops within one mile of the building?"

"Yes, sir." Toby ran off.

"CJ, you think you could find out how to contact the agents families, and let them know what's up? Also, if you could go down to the hospital and check on the two that were taken there awhile ago."

"Sure thing, Mr. President." CJ gave a look of sympathy to her boss, then turned and left.


	15. Last Day, The 15

The cell phone that was in Superman's hand finally rang, about twenty minutes later. "Your van is here, and all the cops are gone." Sam's voice said.

"Leave the van running, come in, bring the sheet with you." Commanded Superman. A minute or two later, Sam was knocking on the same door the three agents had been killed at. "Heman, take one of the agents, go answer the door. If it is anyone but our pizza boy, shoot the agent, and the person at the door."

Heman did as he was told. When the door opened, Sam was indeed on the other end. As soon as Sam entered, the door was shut again.

"Here's your sheet." Sam threw a dark blue sheet to the ground in front of Superman.

Taking out a knife, Superman picked up the sheet, and cut two holes in it. He then gathered his four hostages, driver, and his crew, and ordered them under the sheet. He ended up using the holes that he cut in the sheet so he could see where he was walking. They made it to the van, with no shots fired upon them. Maybe the cops really have left, Superman thought, or maybe they just don't want to chance shooting the wrong person.

In the back seat of the van sat the two agents, and Heman pointing his gun at him. In the middle seat sat Roni and Brad, as Spiderman had his gun pointing at them. Batman ended up having to climb into the front seat, and was turned around taking turns at who he pointed his gun. Superman was on the ground, with his head in between the driver seat and the front passenger seat. Superman ordered Sam to take off, as he gave him driving instructions.

Batman ended up having two jobs. Be back up, keeping the hostages held hostage, and keep an eye out behind them, incase they were being followed. Observing no cars following them, and no weird behavior of any of the cars behind them, Batman kept informing everyone that they were fine.

Sam, doing as he was told, driving the vehicle, began to look in his review mirror. Spotting Roni in it, he spoke up, "Roni, are you okay?"

"No talking!" Superman hissed.

"Yeah, Sam. I'm fine." Roni replied, ignoring Superman.

"I said no talking!" Superman turned around and smacked Roni.

Sam, unsure of what to do, kept quiet, and just kept driving, until he got the order to stop. Looking around, Sam had no clue where he was. It was just some alley. What was so significant about this alley that he had to stop?

"Pizza boy, out! You two agents back there, today is also going to be your lucky day. Go!"

*************************************************

After flashing her White House badge for the last ten minutes, CJ still had no response from the hospital staff. They didn't recognize her authority. They didn't believe that she was the Press Secretary. Calmly, CJ asked if she could change the channel on the TV to c-span. The nurses agreed, and the channel was changed.

"Now, in about a minute, I will end up popping up on the TV, because I am who I say I am."

"Yeah, sure you are lady." The male nurse said.

True to her word, about a minute later a press briefing from earlier that day began to play on the television set. Looking at the two nurses behind the desk, all CJ could do was smile.

"See that? That's me. See that title under my picture? It says CJ Cregg, Press Secretary. See that curtain in the background? Why, what do you know, that's the White House on it. Do you still doubt my authority?"

"No, ma'am. We're sorry we did in the first place." The female nurse said.

"That's quite alright, just give me my update on the agents."

"Yes, ma'am. I will go find out myself, personally." The female nurse disappeared behind some doors.


	16. Last Day, The 16

Josh, still with Robert and the other agents that had been ordered to flee the college campus, finally returned. The crime scene agents that arrived were sent into the class room, to comb through it in attempts to find something, anything that would tell them who they were dealing with, and where they may have fled to.

Josh, standing silently at the rear right door, surveyed the room. He couldn't believe what had happened in that room. Classrooms are supposed to be fun, friendly, safe environments. That one had been anything but any of those things that day. That classroom had been a slaughterhouse, nothing but a giant slaughterhouse. Standing there, Josh thought back to his own college days. He vaguely remembered his own psychology class he took his freshman year. Josh just couldn't believe what had happened in the room that he was looking at, it was all so surreal to him.

Robert approached Josh after he was updated on the crime scene guys' efforts. "Josh."

"Huh, wha...what?" Josh wasn't paying any attention.

"They didn't find anything."

Catching only the last word, he repeated himself, "What?"

"The agents, they found nothing. I thought I'd tell you, so you could update the White House."

"Yeah, thanks." Josh once again whipped out his cell phone and dialed the number. "It's Josh again...They just did a search of the room, they found no clues...Sorry, sir. I wish I had better news for you...Yes, sir. Goodbye, Mr. President.

*************************************************

Not fully aware of why they had been let go, they had been let go. What a relief it was, although Sam was very reluctant to get out. He didn't want to leave Roni, or Brad in there alone. He didn't want to watch the van drive off, with them trapped in there with those guys. But what could he do? Remembering what he should do next, he began searching for his cell phone. "DOH!!" He exclaimed as he realized he had set it down in the van after he called them to let them know he was outside.

"What's wrong? I think you would be happy to be let go." A blonde haired agent said to Sam.

Turning to the agent, Sam told him, "No, I'm not happy. I shouldn't have left. Anyway, that's not what's wrong right now. I need to call the President and let him know what just happened, but I don't have my phone."

"Even if you had your phone, why would the President take your call?" The second agent, a middle aged dark haired man, asked, not knowing who Sam was.

"I'm the deputy director of communications. I'm a part of the President's senior staff. Do either of you have a phone?"

Both agents feeling their clothes, both replied at the same time, "No."

"Damn. Well this is just so bad." Sam said as he walked out of the alley he was dumped into. "I'm gonna go find a payphone. Later."

After walking for about five minutes, he found no pay phones. But, he found a guy using a cell phone. Maybe he could reason with the guy, and make a phone call. Nope. No such luck. I'll just have to keep walking, Sam thought.

Finally, after five more minutes of walking, Sam found a payphone. Reaching into his pockets to get .35¢, he came up empty. Well, this just keeps getting better and better, Sam thought. After pondering his next move, he realized he could try the operator.

"Hello, ma'am. My name is Sam Seaborn. I work for the President, and I really need to get in touch with him right now, you think you could connect me? You can send whatever bill to my office...No, it's not a joke. I'm the White House Deputy Director of Communications; I'm a senior staff member. I work with the President everyday. This is not a joke...You still don't believe me...Tell you what, if you call the White House, and ask them if a Sam Seaborn works there, at the job I told you, then will you connect me?...Thank you." Waiting a minute, the operator finally came back. "Thank you...Mr. President...They let me and the agents go, in some alley...They still have Roni, and Brad...Yes, sir...Mr. President, I could use a ride right about now...Yes, sir. I'm at..." Sam gave his location, and the President agreed to send a car over for him.

*************************************************


	17. Last Day, The 17

The nurses found out who CJ really was, they were all very kind and courteous to her. They offered her coffee, and doughnuts, and such, trying to suck up. All CJ wanted was an update on all the agents, and she finally got one.

"Bobbie Johnson was shot three times in the back. None of the bullets hit any vital organs, but she lost a lot of blood. Also, the bullets shattered upon entering her body, and we were not able to remove all the pieces. She is in critical condition, as she is recovering from surgery right now."

"Okay, and the others?"

"Jim Steines, the other secret service agent, died. He had four bullet wounds. One pierced his left lung. A second bullet dinged his heart. By the time he arrived at the hospital, he was dead."

"Now, the thee FBI guys?"

"Two of them died in the ambulance ride. The third one is in surgery right now. We are trying to find and remove the bullets."

"So, three dead, one in ICU recovering from surgery, and the other in surgery?" CJ repeated as a question, to make sure she got it right.

"That's correct." The doctor told her.

"Thanks." CJ said as she walked off, doing the math in her head. Three died here, plus the one that never made it from the campus, makes four. Four dead agents, and two in not so good shape.

*************************************************

After they had abandoned Sam and the two agents, an eerie silence fell over the van. Spiderman had moved up to driver. Batman was still in the passenger seat. Brad had been forced into the back seat with Heman, and Roni remained in her seat, with Superman next to her.

In the silence, Roni's eyes kept dancing all around, as she tried not to think of what was happening to her. Instead, she tried to remember the good things that have happened to her.

With a slight smile on her face, she thought back to the day she met Kat and Piper. She remembered how she literally ran into Piper on the beach, and they both ended up in the water, soaking wet. She ended up getting a cold that night, and Piper and Kat insisted on taking her home with them.

She recalled her first meeting with the President and the First Lady of the United States... her parents. Roni could tell that Abbey, although very shocked, was very happy. Jed, well, he was rather skeptical. He didn't believe it. He wanted to, but he didn't believe it. All that changed in time though. Things got better.

Things really got better. Roni got used to being around her new family. She began to feel comfortable. She even started to open up. She remembered that night when she told Jed about her past. Roni couldn't help but smile when she remembered him crying along with her, after he played the song Crash and Burn to her, and made his little speech. What a wonderful father he is, Roni thought.

Moving along, Roni recollected her first encounter with Abbey, once she found out about Roni's demons. The night that Roni had come home after spending the day with Zoey, Abbey made a huge fuss over her. For the next week or so, the first thing Abbey would do when she woke up, was go and check on Roni. Roni always pretended to be sleeping, because she loved the attention so much, and never wanted to ruin the moments for Abbey. Roni dwelled on that memory, as she wondered how long it would be before Abbey stopped doing that this time; when Roni returns home, and everything goes back to normal.

Tilting her head to the left, she caught a glimpse of Brad. This brought back all the wonderful memories she had with him. All the dates they had gone on, how they had grown so close to each other. She thought about how close this situation would undoubtedly bring them in the future. She moved on to remember the bad times with him. Those times when they fought, and would brake up for a few days. It never really happened very often, cause when it did the two just longed for each other so much, they just had to give in.

Suddenly Roni felt an arm around her. She looked over, it was Superman.

*************************************************


	18. Last Day, The 18

With nothing left to do, Josh finally returned to the White House, five, six hours after he left it. He arrived in time to hear the President ending a conversation with CJ. From what Josh gathered, it wasn't good news.

"Four agents are dead. One is in surgery now, and Bobbie, she's in ICU." The President announced to his staff.

"Could someone figure out which one's family I already called, and then get me the numbers of the other ones."

"Yeah, no problem." Leo said standing up from his chair. "I'll have those for you right away, sir."

"Thanks Leo." Jed said as he looked down at his watch. 6:30 p.m. He began to think about how just this morning he had planned on having a chili party. Had the day's events not unfolded as they had, he would be in the residence right now, finishing his chili, partying with his staff, and his two youngest daughters. "Well, it's past work time, and I've already had all of you running all around today, so if you want to go, you can."

"If it's okay, Mr. President, I'd like to stay." Sam said.

"Yeah, me too." Josh and Toby both said at the same time.

"Thank you, all of you. I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have you here with me, helping me."

*************************************************

Roni shuttered as she felt the arm touch her. She hadn't seen that one coming, not at all. Superman looked back at her, "You having fun yet?"

Sarcastically, she replied, "Okay."

"Are you attracted to me?"

"What the? NOOO!!! Get away from me"

"Why not? I'm attracted to you." Roni looked into Superman's eyes as he said this. It was too much for her. She didn't know what to do, but Superman did. He leaned in, to kiss Roni. As he got closer, he moved his arms, and began to unbutton her shirt.

Observing all of this from the back seat, Brad began to freak out. He jumped out of his seat, and grabbed Superman by the neck. Realizing what was going on, Heman hit Brad with his gun, knocking him out cold. No one was left to save Roni. What was she to do when he finally kissed her? And all that other stuff that he wanted to do to her. Luckily, she didn't have to find out, cause Spiderman announced their arrival at their destination. Looking out the tinted window, Roni saw a small airplane that probably would only hold a good ten people. Further observations made her aware of the long, clear, paved runway, surrounded by trees. In the distance was a brick house. Where am I? Roni wondered.

*************************************************

"Mr. President!" Ron shouted as he entered the Oval Office. "We know who Superman is. His name is Dave Smith. His brother is Paul Smith, the one on death row. Here is his file."

Before opening up the file, Jed decided it would be best to sit down. He went over to his desk, and did just that. Abbey followed him, and stood over his shoulder as they read it to themselves.

Getting very angry at what he was reading, Jed finally found the voice to repeat what he had read. "Three arrests for criminal sexual conduct, four assault arrests, two for armed robbery!"

"If that's as far as you've gotten, Jed, you might want to keep reading." Abbey said.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. He was kicked out of the Marines because he's insane! How is it possible that he is still walking on the streets, Ron?"

"He has always pleaded insanity on all the charges. They lock him up in an institution. Once he is on his medication, and doing better, they release him. Then he stops taking his prescriptions, and it starts all over again, sir." Ron explained.

"We're talking about, three...seven...nine. Nine trials. He was found guilty at nine trials, and sent to an institution after each one?"

"There were only four trials, sir. Some of those charges are interlocked."

"Still, four is a rather large number, for something like this." Jed said, Ron didn't know how to reply.

*************************************************


	19. Last Day, The 19

Brad came to, as Spiderman was about to pick him up and carry him out of the van. Because he had come to, Spiderman ordered him to get out, instead. Once out of the van, he looked around. They were at some kind of ranch or something. Before he could really take notice of the airplane, or the runway, he was shoved into the brick house. When they got into the house, Superman tossed Roni and Brad into the dark, damp cellar, and locked the door. He then went over and turned the TV on. Upon doing so, he came across those pesky little special news broadcast things that he hated so much. Realizing they would be about him, he decided to watch.

"We have an unconfirmed report that the main assailant is 28 year old Dave Smith. I believe....yes, his picture is up on the screen right now. If you have any information on his current whereabouts, you are to call the Secret Service. Dave Smith is the brother of Paul Smith, who is currently in...."

Superman couldn't stand to listen to anymore of this, so he turned the TV off.

"What are we going to do man? They know who you are. It won't be long till they are here." Reasoned Batman

"SHUT UP!" Cried Superman. "Spiderman, go make sure the plane is ready to take off. Heman, go get them out of the cellar. We got to get out of here. Batman, go help Spiderman."

*************************************************

"We've got an address." Proclaimed Ron as he turned his cell phone off. "Agents are on their way now."

"Tell me, are they going to screw up like they did last time?" Jed asked.

"Sir...I can make no guarantees. But they know what they are doing. And because of the results of their last efforts, I assure you, they will be much more cautious this time.

"Those are the same empty promises I got last time. What makes this time any different?"

"Jed," Abbey spoke up. "Follow me." She directed as she walked outside.

Reluctantly, Jed followed his wife. "Abbey..."

"Jed, you need to let them do their job. I'm just as worried as you are, but if they do nothing, we will never get Roni back." Abbey said, unsure of what she was saying.

"And there is a good chance if they do do something, and screw it up, that we won't get her back, Abbey." Jed vocalized his fears.

"I know. That's why you have to trust them, and let them do their job."

He realized the best thing he could do was just agree. "Fine."

"Jed?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." Abbey said as a tear started to fall down her cheek, for the fear was getting to her.

"I love you too." Jed took her in a hug.

*************************************************

When they were approximately ten feet away from the airplane, they began to hear sirens. Knowing those sirens were coming for them, they began to run to the plane. As they got closer to the plane, Superman looked behind him and saw the first of what would be many police vehicles. Beginning to get worried, he began to spray bullets at the car as he was pulled into the airplane by one of his henchmen.

Once they were all in the plane, Batman sat in the pilot seat, and started the plane's engines. As he was doing this, the plane suddenly found itself surrounded by cop cars from every direction. What seemed like hundreds of agents all had their guns drawn, and pointed at the plane.

Superman, freaking out, looked around the plane. His eyes rested on Brad. Jerking him up, Superman went over to the plane's door, and opened it using Brad as a shield. "Move the vehicles, or he gets shot!" Brad closed his eyes, and gulped. He was thinking this is it. This is the end.

Observing no movement from any of the vehicles surrounding the plane, Superman shot Brad in the shoulder, then pushed him out of the plane.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Roni screamed. "You bastard." She tried to get up. But before she could, Superman grabbed her, throwing her on her feet.

Returning to the door, he saw the agents moving Brad's body into the back seat of a police cruiser. As the cruiser took off, full speed, Superman shouted again, "She's next if you don't move!'

*************************************************


	20. Last Day, The 20

At the hospital, CJ was patiently waiting to see if the last agent would survive his surgery. She had been there some time, and received no word. Finally, a door came crashing open, and the doctor she had talked to before came rushing in.

"Surgery went well. He's in ICU recovering right now. There is a good chance that he will fully recover."

"What about Bobbie? Are there any updates on her?"

"She is also recovering beautifully."

Just then the ambulance doors were thrown open as a guy wearing an FBI windbreaker carried Brad into the emergency room. CJ recognized him immediately, and went to use the phone to update the President again.

"It's CJ, I have an update for you, sir......the agent pulled through the surgery and is in recovery now.....Brad was just brought in here, sir......He has been shot in the shoulder, from what I could see. He also looked pretty banged up. Like maybe he took a fall or something......yes, sir.....Goodbye Mr. President."

Looking at his wife, Jed said, "Brad's been shot."

*************************************************

Before they got any word from the captain, agents began to move their vehicles out of the way, taking Superman at his word. Soon, Batman found an opening, and slowing inched the plane forward, down the runway. Watching what was going on, the captain began to think that if they let the plane get away, they'd never see Roni again.

"We can't let them get away!" An agent vocalized the captain's thoughts.

"You're right." The captain agreed "If we let them get away, we'll never see Roni Bartlet again, and then we are all soo dead."

"What if we were to shoot the tires out. They can't take off without the tires, right?" A third agent said.

"Ok, I'm willing to try, but only because if that plane takes off, we may never see anyone on board again. But if this does not work, and Veronica Bartlet gets hurt in the process somehow, you will be the one dead, not me. You got that?" The captain looked at the agent that had the idea. Then he shouted, "All of you, you're all fired if we don't get Roni Bartlet back right now."

A few agents began to fire their guns at the plane's tires, making them all go flat. Despite the flat tires, the plane kept going. "It didn't work. We need to try something else." The captain said, as he jumped in his cruiser, and moved it in the path of the plane, and ordered that the many other vehicles did the same. Batman had no choice but to stop the plane.

*************************************************

Brad's parents came running into the emergency room with a very frantic look on their face. They saw CJ, and recognized her as the press secretary. They assumed that she was there to get updates on the agents that they had heard were shot, on the news. They thought that maybe she had heard something about their son as well as, so they approached her.

"Ms. Cregg, we're Brad's parents. How is he? Do you know?"

"Mr. Slater, Mrs. Slater, what a pleasure it is to meet you. I'm so sorry that it just happens to be under these circumstances."

"Our son?" Mrs. Slater asked.

"He's in surgery right now. The bullet is lodged in his shoulder, and they are trying to remove it. He may have a slight concussion, but that's it. The doctors have no reason to doubt his survival."

"Thank God." The two parents murmured as they looked into each other's eyes.

*************************************************


	21. Last Day, The 21

Superman opened the door with Roni in front of him, using her as a shield for the second time. He held the gun to her back. "MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!!" He shouted.

Getting the order from his boss, an agent replied over the PA system of one of the police vehicles, "This is the FBI. Drop the gun, put your hands in the air, and step out of the plane. Do it now!"

Their command infuriated Superman. He began to panic, as his trigger finger began to shake. BANG! Fired the gun. Roni's body fell out of the plane, as the agents fired what seemed like hundreds of bullets in Superman's direction. Several of the bullets found their way into his body, as he also fell out of the plane. Then, the agents ordered the rest of the men out. "You, in the plane, come out with your hands up. Do it now!"

Upon that command, Batman, Spiderman and Heman came to the door and jumped out. "Turn around, so your back is facing me. Do it now!" They all complied.

"Walk backward to the sound of my voice. Do it now!" Again, they complied. As soon as they had cleared the airplane, the agent doing all the talking ordered them to stop. "You on the left, take five steps to the left. Do it now!" Heman did as he was commanded. "You, on the right. Take five steps to the right. Do it now!" Spiderman also did as he was instructed. The agent then continued to call them back, and then let three other agents take over. One for each of them. As soon as they had been removed of all visible weapons, and were all handcuffed, a few agents ran over to Roni's body. Pushing her on to her back, they tried to find a pulse.

*************************************************

Zoey had been waiting in the residence; she couldn't stomach watching all of the chaos unfolding in the west wing. Jed, being overly concerned about her, but unwilling to leave his office, which was the main command post, sent Charlie to go check on her. The two had been sitting in the living room area of the residence for at least an hour and a half. No words were spoken. Instead, Charlie just sat on the couch and held Zoey in his arms. He knew exactly what she was going through. After all, he lost his mother in a very similar fashion. Of course, they didn't know if anything bad was going to happen to Roni, but as human nature goes, they couldn't help but think about it.

Zoey's eyes began to close, as she drifted off to sleep. She was able to do this, because she felt so comfortable in Charlie's arms. No more than a minute later, she jumped up, screamed, "Oh no!" And she took off running to the Oval Office. Charlie, very confused as to what just happened, chased after her.

When the two arrived in the Oval Office, their entry was noticed. Everyone inside mumbled hello's. Zoey kept silent. She ran to her mother, and gave her a hug. Then she did the same to her father.

Both Abbey and Jed were very curious as to what had gotten into Zoey, so she tried to explain. "I fell asleep, and had a dream. It wasn't good. Something even worse is going to happen to her, I just know it." Zoey managed to choke out between sobs.

Taking his daughter into his arms, Jed said, "Shh. It's okay. We have to hope for the best." As Jed was comforting his daughter, the phone rang. He handed Zoey off to Abbey, who continued to comfort her, as the two stared at him. Wondering what the call was about.


	22. Last Day, The 22

"She doesn't have a pulse!" Shouted the agent that was trying to find Roni's pulse. "Get an ambulance here now!"

Another agent that was surrounding Roni's body said, "Let's start compressions." With that, he began to pump on her chest, and the first agent began to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation.

"Check her pulse again, does she have one yet?"

"No, I can't find anything, keep pumping."

The agent that was doing the compressions did as he was told, "One, two, three four, five. Breath." He ordered his co-worker. "Again, One, two, three, four, five. Breath."

"Okay, check again. Is it there?"

"Yeah, I think I feel a pulse."

"You think? Move over, let me check." The agent said as he felt for a pulse. "YES!! We did it. She has a pulse. But she looks really weak, we need an ambulance here a.s.a.p."

"How's her breathing?" The captain came over and asked.

"Very eratic, and her pulse is very weak. We need that ambulance, and we need it now."

The agent standing that had done the compressions was still bent over Roni's body. "She stopped breathing. DAMN IT! I can't find a pulse. Come on, we need to do this again."

As they began the CPR process all over again, an ambulance finally showed up, and took over. Before they rolled her onto the stretcher, they took over the CPR, till they made sure she had a pulse. As they put her in the back, they were hooking monitors up to her body. Once the doors were closed, and an agent tapped twice on the back, it raced to the hospital.

*************************************************

"President Bartlet.....WHAT THE F**K?!!?....HE WHAT?......Is she...?....Where?...." Jed hung the phone up, and looked up at everyone in the room. As he found his wife and daughter, he began to relay the message. "R....Roni....she's been sh... shot, in the back. She's still alive,... barely. They're taking her to the hospital." Jed was amazed he was able to say as much as he did, for he knew he was shaking in fear, and anger.

*************************************************

As the ambulance door of the emergency room opened up once again, CJ saw EMT's rolling Roni in. CJ was very distraught over this image. "They shot her." Was replaying through her head.

When the Slater's noticed that it was Roni being wheeled in, they both winced. In the past eight months that their son had been dating Roni, they had gotten very close. So close that they thought of her as a daughter.

A few agents had followed closely behind the ambulance, and were coming into the emergency waiting room. CJ took notice of them, and stopped them. She explained who she was, and demanded an update. She didn't like what she heard. She was glad that it had ended, and the guy that did this to Roni was dead, but she still didn't like what she heard.

*************************************************


	23. Last Day, The 23

"Ron! I'm going. There is nothing you can do to stop me. That's my little girl in the hospital, with a bullet wound in her body. I'm going."

"Sir, it's not safe."

"I don't care if it is safe or not, I'm going to the hospital." Jed stormed out of his office, leaving everyone behind. Abbey immediately took off after him, and joined him, as did Zoey. They all wanted to go to the hospital. There was no way they would sit in the White House and wait for a phone call. Jed would rather pace the halls of the hospital. Abbey would rather peek in on the doctors, making sure things were going just fine. Zoey, she just wanted to be with her parents, as she prayed that her sister would be just fine.

The entire staff, still reeling from being told that Roni had been shot, and observing the President's rant about going to the hospital, remained where they were. None of them could move, as they were frozen from the shock. Josh had been the one that was hit the hardest, for of the staff, he was the closest to Roni. Toby observed all of their reactions, and never having reached out to Roni, he was the calmest person in the room. With that in mind, he suggested "Maybe we should all go down there. I can drive." Leo, Sam, and Josh looked at Toby, and agreed, as they all left the office.

*************************************************

As soon as the President arrived at the hospital, he jumped out of the limo. Once he helped his wife and daughter out, he hurried in the building. The second he stepped into the Hospital's emergency room, this eerie feeling overcame him, and he turned right around and walked out.

Abbey, seeing this display, ordered Zoey to go to the waiting room, find CJ, and let her know they were there, as she went to find out what was troubling Jed. When she stepped out of the Hospital, she looked around, and finally found Jed. He was pacing up and down the sidewalk, with a very fed up detail around him. Abbey walked over to him, put her arms around him, embracing him in a hug. For about a minute, the two just stood there, hugging. No words were being spoken. No words needed to be spoken. They knew exactly what each other were thinking.

Abbey knew that Jed didn't want to go in, because he didn't want to have to face what the doctors would tell him. She knew that given time, he would come around and decide to go in, and she was right. For after a minute, Jed finally said something, "We should get in there, cause I don't think they are too happy with us right now." Jed said pointing at their secret service agents.

"Yeah," was all Abbey said in response.

*************************************************

Entering the waiting room, Jed and Abbey immediately saw Zoey, CJ, and the Slater's. Jed walked over to the Brad's parents, "Phil, Sharen, I'm sorry your son has suffered at the hands of those guys, and because of Roni. I hope he pulls through just fine."

"Mr. President, we don't blame Roni that this happened. We just want you to know that." Mr. Slater said as a doctor entered the area.

After clearing his throat, the doctor called the Slater's over to him. Everyone else could overhear what they were being told. Brad was fine. He made it through surgery just fine, and was recovering wonderfully. Once the doctor gave them the news, they vanished behind some doors, as they went to go visit Brad.


	24. Last Day, The 24

The car ride to the hospital was quiet. None of them dared to vocalize any of their thoughts. Toby just drove as fast as he could, without technically speeding, which ended up being about nine miles above the limit. He knew if he drove any slower, his coworkers would kill him. Either Josh would strangle him from the behind. Leo maybe would do something from the side. And there was always Sam coming in at him from an angle, being the one to sit in the rear passenger seat.

Finally, they arrived. Toby pulled in to the parking lot, and found a spot. As soon as he did, everyone jumped out of the vehicle, and sprinted to the hospital doors. Once inside, they had no troubles finding the President, First Lady, Zoey, and CJ. Well, CJ was a little hard to find, cause she went to go get some coffee for the President, and a bottle of water for Mrs. Bartlet. When she returned, she wasn't surprised at all, to find the rest of the staff there. She looked at them, all of them. Sitting scattered across the room. Heads draped over the chairs, hands covering eyes, legs tapping on the carpeted floors.

*************************************************

An hour later, there was still no word on Roni's condition. No update on what was happening in surgery. No word at all. They knew absolutely nothing. Looking over, Jed found the eyes of his chief of staff. One look and Leo knew exactly what Jed wanted from him.

Leo rose from his seat, and walked over to the nurse's desk. "I need an update on Roni Bartlet, and I need it now." Leo calmly said to the male nurse.

"Yes, sir." The nurse said as he disappeared behind some doors.

Entering about three minutes later, a female doctor walked over to the President. "Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet, I'm Dr. Padon." She extended her hand.

Taking the doctor's hand, Abbey said, "I'm Abigail Bartlet. How's my little girl?"

"Veronica was shot, once, in the back. The bullet is very close to her spinal cord, and we fear there may be some pieces in the spinal cord. We are afraid to remove the bullet, but if we don't, it won't be good."

*************************************************

Getting updates every thirty minutes, from that point on, when it was finally over, Dr. Padon returned, along with another doctor.

"Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet, this is Dr. Peters. He is the one that operated on your daughter."

"How is she?" Jed asked shaking the doctor's hand.

"We successfully removed the bullet, but we did find a few small pieces in Veronica's spinal cord. We were able to remove most of them. There was extensive damage done to sections of her spinal cord. We believe that once she wakes up, she will not be able to feel her legs."

"Paralyzed?"

"I'm afraid so."

"What are her chances?" Leo joined the discussion.

"We are giving her an 11% chance of walking again, sir."

"When she wakes up? What was that about?" Abbey asked.

"She's in a comma she sustained from when she fell from the aircraft."

"Can we see her?" Jed asked.

"Yes, Mr. President, right this way." Dr. Peters led the first couple to the room.

Stepping in the dark room, Jed elected to keep the lights off, as that would set the dark mood that he was already in. Abbey immediately found a chair, and pulled it over to the bed. She took Roni's hand into her own, held it up to her lips, where she kissed her hand. She then began to cry. Jed silently stood behind his wife, placing his supporting hands on her shoulders.


	25. Last Day, The 25

Eight days later, Abbey and Zoey were in Roni's room, as they had practically lived there since Roni was admitted. Jed, however, didn't have that luxury, being the President, and all. Not like there had been any changes in her condition; she remained in the comma. Till then.

Abbey had gotten tired sitting on the chair, holding Roni's hand, so she rested her head on the bed, and went to sleep. Zoey had already been sleeping for sometime. About an hour later, Abbey woke up. She didn't know why, but she woke up. She just had this feeling, she knew something was happening. Then she heard something, a noise. She looked up, and saw Roni, awake.

"Hey." Roni said, acknowledging her mother's presence.

"You're awake!" Abbey began to cry.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Eight days."

"Oh." Roni said quietly. "Mom, why can't I feel my legs? What's going on?"

"You were shot. The bullet came very close to your spinal cord, and parts of it actually lodged themselves in your spinal cord..." Abbey began to explain, in doctor mode to help her get through this question she feared would come.

"I'm paralyzed?"

Abbey didn't want to answer this question, but she knew she had to. "Yes," she whispered, staring sympathetically into Roni's eyes.

"Brad?"

"He's fine, kiddo. He was shot in the shoulder, and has to have a sling on for sometime, but he's just fine. He's been here quite a bit to check on you. He's very worried about you. He loves you very much, I can tell."

Hearing the commotion, Zoey finally woke up. When she did so, she was elated to find her sister awake as well. Zoey couldn't believe how happy she was, just to see her sister awake. "Hey you, what do you think you're doing getting into a situation like that, huh?"

"Guess I'm just lucky."

"Listen, why don't you get some rest. Zoey, go tell the doctors that you your sister is awake. I'm going to call your father."

"Mom, I've been sleeping for eight days, you said so yourself. I'm not really tired." Roni said as Abbey couldn't help but chuckle as she and Zoey exited the room.

*************************************************

Jed had been in a meeting about the energy bill, with Leo, Josh, and some key senators. Charlie stepped in the Roosevelt room, and looked at the President with a big ole grin on his face. Being the first, and only smile around the west wing in days, Jed knew whatever it was, it was good. He excused himself and exited the room. Once he found out that Abbey was on the phone, with good news, he took off. Stopping right outside of his office, he had Mrs. Landingham have the guys bring the suburban around. Then he went in his office and talked to his wife. The conversation was brief, Abbey said that Roni was out of her coma. No sooner than she had done so, Nancy came in, announcing that the car was ready for him.

The drive to the hospital seemed to last for eons. But when he finally arrived, he jumped out of the car, and ran. He didn't stop running until he reached Roni's room. Standing right outside, he took a minute to catch his breath, then he entered.

"You look good." Jed said entering the room, with a tear in his eye, as he was so overwhelmed that his daughter finally had woken up.

"Wish I could say the same to you. Haven't you been able to get some sleep? You look terrible." Roni smiled.

Jed couldn't help but to laugh at that comment. "It's good to see you up, and back to your old self. We've missed you."

"Yeah."

"Where's your mother?" Jed had expected to find Abbey in the room.

"She went to go...you know, I don't know."

"How are you feeling?"

"Besides this splitting headache, and the fact that I can't feel my legs, I've never been better." Jed couldn't speak. He had remembered what the doctors had said about her being paralyzed, but he didn't want to believe it.

Eventually, he found the words, "I'm so sorry this all happened to you. If I could change it, if I could make it have happened to me, instead of you, I would have."

"I know. Dad?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Veronica." Jed took one last step, and knelt down by the bed so he could hug and kiss her.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to them? Superman, Spider..."

"Superman is dead. The agents shot him right after he shot you. You never have to worry about him again."

"And the others?"

"They are in jail, where they are going to stay. You have nothing to worry about, Roni. Nothing."

"Mom said Brad's okay."

"Yeah. His shoulder was shattered, and he'll probably never play another sport again, but he's gonna be just fine."

"He tried to save me, you know." Roni got a curious look from her father. "Superman tried to kiss me, among other things, but Brad...Brad stopped him."

Abbey snuck back in the room, just in time to catch the end of this conversation. She realized neither of them had heard her come in, so she cleared her throat, then said, "Roni, I've got someone here to see you."

"Who?" Roni asked as a young man stepped in the room. "Brad!"

Jed quietly got up from the floor, put his arm over his wife, and led her outside, so as to give them some privacy. Abbey peeked in the window, and with a tear in her eye, she turned to Jed and said, "She's gonna be alright Jed. She's gonna live."

*************************************************


	26. Last Day, The 26

"How bad's your shoulder?" Roni asked Brad as he stepped closer in the room.

"I'll live. So what happened after I left? He didn't...?" Brad trailed off.

"No, he didn't do that." Roni replied, as she knew what Brad was trying to ask. "He only tried that once, when you strangled him."

"How are you doing?"

"I don't think I'll ever be able to watch any kind of superhero TV shows again, but other than that, I'm fine."

With a little laugh, Brad brought a chair over to the bed, and sat down. "You're mom said you were..."

"Yeah, I am." Roni said at the same time that Brad finished his sentence.

"Paralyzed."

"Yeah. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

"No, no it's not. I'm just so sorry that I couldn't protect you better."

"That's okay, it's not your job to protect me."

"I feel it is, and I feel I let you down."

"It's not your fault, you had been shot, and thrown out of a plane. There was nothing you could have done."

"But still..."

"Hey, I'm actually kinda getting tired right now....."

"Okay, so I'll go, but I'll be back later. Get some sleep." Brad kissed her on the forehead, and then left.

*************************************************

When Brad came out of Roni's room, he stood at the door for a minute, watching her, as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Jed, having been right down the hall, saw him doing so, and decided to go speak with him.

Standing right next to Brad, Jed said, "I want to thank you, son."

"For what? I didn't do anything."

"You saved my daughter."

"No, I didn't. I didn't do anything. If I had, she wouldn't be laying there in a hospital bed, unable to feel anything below her waist." Brad clenched his good fist.

"She said that he tried to....tried...he tried to...." Jed couldn't say it. But Brad knew what he was talking about, so he didn't have to say it.

"Oh, that. I did what I had to. There's no way I could live with myself if I just sat back and watched Superman do that to her. No way."

"I'm glad, son. I'm glad that you were there for her. I can't think of anyone else I'd have rather her been with during something like that, other than myself. So thank you."

"I'd do it all again in a minute, sir. The only thing I'd change...it'd be me in there, not her. She doesn't deserve that."

"No one does." Jed said, as he draped his arm over Brad, careful enough not to upset his right shoulder. The two men stood there in the silence, staring through the window at Roni, who had gone to sleep.

THE END


End file.
